Strength Among the Weak
by Sorenstar
Summary: A plan born from desperation, to save the people of a dead planet. Two ships, to hold an entire world. Four unlikely friends, to face the trials of a hero. Ragol is no place for the weak, and the strong are those wise enough to understand that.


_Uhg. Yeah. Here we go. This little ficlet was a plot bunny that wouldn't stop hopping around my mind until I put it on a computer screen, and now all YOU unfortunate people have to read it. Well...you don't HAVE to, but you're here so I figure you're at least going to give it a shot. Anyway, here's chapter one, I hope you enjoy it!_

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><p>A plan born from desperation, to save the people of our planet, Etriet. Our beautiful planet had begun to mysteriously suffer from an unnatural plague. As years went by the death toll of this epidemic was in the millions. Seeing that there was no way to cure this disease our leader, principal Tyrell, came up with a plan. Two spaceships big enough to hold our population were created, the Pioneer 1 and the Pioneer 2. These two ships were created to be like floating cities and would serve as our home until a planet capable of sustaining life was found. The sister ships were launched and we turned our backs to the planet that we called our home for so many generations.<p>

We did not know how long this voyage would last. That's when the principal's only daughter, Rico, decided that when we arrived we'd be ready. She created both Hunters' Guilds, one on the Pioneer 1 and the other on the Pioneer 2. The Hunters' Guilds were made to train select citizens, (both humans and casts, in our world they are considered equals.) and turn them into a fully realized Hunter, Ranger, or Force. Hunters deal with swords, daggers, or any other form of blade. Rangers use any type of gun or projectile. Forces are very rare, you cannot choose to be a force, you are born into it. They have the ability to use any magic that's been discovered so far. There are two types of forces a light force and a dark force. The difference is they study that type of magic as well as basic healing spells. This system was made so when we landed we'd be safe from any… hostiles.

Months, then years flew by us. Both Hunters' Guilds were big and powerful. Rico got the nickname Red Ring Rico from a dazzling crimson bracelet she wore and all the red armor and weapons she used. She was in charge of the Hunters' Guild aboard the Pioneer 1. Being in charge of the guild she easily learned how to be both hunter and ranger. The Pioneer 2 was voting to see who would be in charge of the second guild when something came up on the ship's long range radar.

An unidentified planet stood approximately 1.5 years away from the two ships. From what we could tell it looked like it would be a suitable place to build our new life. Rico suggested that she would take the Pioneer 1 and investigate this new planet. This plan was approved and as time went by we eventually received a report from Pioneer 1. The report told of the planet's variety of life, it had endless forests, vast oceans, and rivers snaked throughout the land. After receiving this report the Pioneer 2 set course for the planet, which we named Ragol.

As the months went by as we headed for Ragol we received updates from the Pioneer1. They had begun constructing a place for all the citizens to gather once we landed. They called this the Central Dome. It was apparently located in the middle of a forest that they cut paths through. With our portal technology we could jump from section to section. In one of the reports they mentioned they suspected that there used to be civilizations long ago. However, that was the last we heard from them and with only a few days left until we reached our destination the Pioneer 1 hadn't responded to any of our recent messages.

The time finally came when we reached Ragol. Like they said it was big and beautiful just like our old home. We tried several times to communicate with the Pioneer 1 over radio, but all we got was static. Tyrell decided to send down a search party and that's when we saw Ragol's twisted side

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><p>"Soldiers! You all know the current crisis at hand!"<p>

I stood there silently as my commanding officer, Soron, a RAmarl, addressed our squadron of soldiers.

"The Pioneer 1 hasn't responded for months and we now have a search and rescue mission underway. Assume the worst and that something has gone wrong and now you all must go down there and search for survivors"

As the thirty of us stood there I glanced at the crowd. I saw three soldiers that I might call my friends. I saw Luna first. Luna Schade has a very calm and clear attitude, back in training whenever we were losing and the enemy was closing in she would remain calm, think of a plan and act without hesitation. That's probably the reason why we won almost all the skirmishes. She has black hair with light blue streaks that go a little past her shoulders. Her black hair covers one if her blue-green eyes. She was wearing the dark hunter's uniform that everyone received upon joining the Hunters Guild, even though it's not required. She is classified as a HUnewearl. On her hip was a standard photon-saber, as well as a field-dagger strapped to her leg. The rest of her equipment I assumed was in her Item Deposit Unit or IDU. The IDU is a special pack made for storing photon weapons and medicine. When it detects a photon weapon it cancels the photon, leaving just a handle which is much easier to store. Next was Kikan Renari. The time I had spent in training with him was great. He isn't exactly the smartest fellow, but you should see him with a sniper rifle. He never misses. He is great for giving orders to, but never put him in charge. His main strategy is blow it up. He is a RAcast. He is around eight feet tall and has red, orange, and gray armor. He has bright yellow eyes that stick out among the other colors. The plating on his head makes it look like he has a huge horn. He had a photon rifle slung across his back and attached to his waist was a handgun. Then I saw Vivian, she was up near the commander. Vivian Prefonia always seems to be in a good mood no matter what. Maybe it has to do with the fact that she is one of the few forces on the Pioneer 2. Vivian is a FOnewearl, a dark magic force to be specific and has short brown hair and purple eyes. She wore a dark blue bandana and a purple military outfit that they give only to forces. She had a photon staff that helps cast spells more efficiently at her side. As for me, I'm Lloyd Sage, just another hunter, Humar to be specific. I've got dirty blonde hair that goes down almost over my blue eyes. I was wearing the same black uniform that all hunters get and I did most my training in. I had a set of double photon daggers attached to both sides of my waist.

"Now then," said Soron, "Have I made your mission objective clear?"

"Yes ma'am," the crowd called out as one.

"Good, now break off into your teams and get down to Ragol!"

As the group of soldiers dismissed I got together with Luna, Kikan, and Vivian.

"Hey guys I've been wondering about where we should start the search…" I said thoughtfully

"We should begin at the alpha site," Luna responded as though she had already thought about the question before. "Isn't that like ten miles away from where they started making the dome? Why should we start there?" I questioned

"If something attacked them it wouldn't appear at the Central Dome where everyone is. It would target a less populated area such as the alpha site," replied Luna. "From the records before we lost contact with the Pioneer 1 it sounds like the site was still under construction and had minimal security. The fact that it was in a secluded area in a forest makes it a good place for an ambush."

"Well I guess we'll start with the alpha site," I said

"Sounds good," said Vivian.

"Let's roll!" shouted Kikan, already getting pumped for the upcoming mission.

With that said we checked our IDU's one last time, set the alpha site coordinates, and stepped inside the portal.

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><p>As I stepped out of the portal I was hit by a wall of humidity. After being on the Pioneer 2 for so long I had forgotten that the planet's climate would be nothing like our ship's. It was at least ninety degrees and the humidity made it hard to breathe. The area where they chose to place the portal wasn't much. There were rock walls on all sides that went up around twelve feet but no roof. The rooms they set up were clear of trees but if you went anywhere else it was a dense jungle. There was a security gate on the south wall. The green lights on either side of it told me that it was unlocked and would automatically open if you got near it. As my team and i walked towards it I glanced to my left. Some supply boxes had been smashed. As I walked over I saw they contained a photon saber and a monomate which is a healing medicine that restores a small amount of energy. I gathered the remains and rejoined my group who stood at the gate.<p>

"What's the holdup?" I asked.

"Something's wrong with the door," Vivian responded. "The lights green but it won't open,"

She was right, I walked up to the gate but it remained still.

"Maybe the locking system got screwed up. Try checking the control panel," I said

We walked over to the control panel which stood a couple yards away from the door.

"Well you were right Lloyd. Everything is operational except the locks. Whenever I input the command nothing happens," Vivian explained.

"What? Lemme see this," I said growing frustrated.

"Hey you two it's not gonna open anytime soon."

Vivian and I looked up from the screen and saw that Luna had removed the steel cover from the back of the panel.

"The circuits that direct power to the locking mechanism have been destroyed," said Luna, "and seeing how they were melted I'm guessing no animal did this."

"You mean that one of our own people did this?" I said in surprise.

"That's what it looks like," she replied grimly.

"But why? And how are we gonna get through tha" BOOM!

A huge explosion came from the door as we all jumped back, while readying our weapons. As the dust cleared we saw Kikan standing next to the door.

"Kikan! What was that for? You scared me half to death!" I bellowed in fury.

"The door's busted so I'm gonna make a new one!" grunted Kikan.

"Kikan those are security gates! They're meant to be indestructible! You can't just slap some c-4 on there, blow it up and be on your merry way!" I said in exasperation.

"Oh yea? Watch me!" exclaimed Kikan as he started to put another charge of c-4 on the door.

"Give me that!" I said as I snatched the detonator away from him.

"Hey!" he yelled in protest, but I shot him an evil eye and he shut up.

"Lloyd's right Kikan, those doors aren't gonna break so right now we should be trying to fix the circuits," said Luna without even a hint of anger in her voice. I figured she wasn't mad because I had yelled at Kikan enough.

Meanwhile halfway through my lecture at Kikan, Vivian had gone back to the panel.

"Kikan give me a battery pack from your rifle," said Vivian. "I'm gonna use it as an external power source and reroute the circuits to that. It should work."

"That's great and everything but I've been wondering about something for a while," I said thoughtfully.

"What is it now?" said Kikan.

"Why would our own people sabotage the door unless they're trying to keep us out?"

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out right now," said Vivian as she pressed a switch and doors slowly slid open.

A rotten stench filled the room as we looked past the doors in horror.

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><p>As the gate slid noiselessly open I gazed into a huge section of forest that had been cleared away. At the other end of the room to the left was a path that led to another section of the forest. At the right side of the room was a huge tree. All throughout the room there were scraps of fabric that looked too much like Pioneer 1 expedition uniforms. As we stood there staring at the clothes now tinged with red something caught my eye. Something big and brown was hunched over partially hidden by the tree trunk. As I drew my weapons it whirled around. The bone it had in its mouth dropped when it saw us. It was at least nine feet tall and its overall resemblance was that of a bear-fox mix. It had dark brown fur all over its body except the black mane it had around its head. It had three long claws on each hand as well as countless razor sharp teeth. Its glowing red eyes locked onto us. Then it crouched and slowly moved toward us.<p>

"Guys I gotta pretty good guess what happened to the expedition team," I said nervously.

"Lloyd now is definitely NOT the time for that," Luna said sharply. "Okay Kikan I want you and Vivian to give that...thing every long range attack you got, like right now!"

Vivian and Kikan began shooting and casting and launching various projectiles at the monster while Luna continued the plan. "Now Lloyd me and you will rush it, try to get behind it and take it out from there. GO!"

By this time the monster, which had begun charging at us the moment the bullets started flying, was about twenty feet away. I took the right side of it and started running towards it, daggers drawn. At the last moment I dodge rolled underneath the beast's right arm which slashed the air where I had been moments before. I whirled around and sank my dagger into the creature's shoulder. It howled in pain and spun around, smacking me with the backside of its paw. The blow knocked me backwards against the tree. Before I could get up it lunged at me, but right before it tore me to shreds Luna smashed the creature's skull with an overhead swing from her saber. The monster slowly turned around, blood gushing from the new gash in its head. It took a step forward, wobbled, then fell to all fours where it remained. Then it jerked its head up and let out an earsplitting cry before collapsing. As we grouped back together I stood up, retrieved my dagger from the body and exclaimed,

"What the heck was that thing?"

"I'm guessing that it was a Booma," said Vivian, still dazed from the battle.

"A Booma? How come you get to name it!" said Kikan

"I wasn't the one who chose that name," said Vivian growing annoyed. "I remember in one of the Pioneer 1's transmissions they mentioned an animal fitting that description... Only they said that Boomas were much smaller and were very peaceful."

"Yea, right, that Booma sure did seem happy to see us," I remarked sarcastically.

But nobody was listening, instead they stood there staring at the Booma carcass in astonishment.

"What the heck is wrong with it?" said Kikan

The Boomas body was slowly turning a deep gray. Then it seemed to melt and sink into the ground slowly leaving only a pool of blood.

"Umm... I don't know what the heck just happened but we should probably take a blood sample of what's left of the Booma," I said slowly.

"Yea good idea," agreed Vivian, while taking out an empty vile.

Once the sample was taken I said, "Well we can do one of two options. We can either head back with that sample or continue on through the path."

Suddenly Luna spoke up, "How about option three, fight for our lives again!"

"What do you mean?" I said, a sense of dread growing inside me.

"Turn around!"

As I did I saw a section of the ground twenty feet away moving. Then, to my horror, a long dark brown arm with three huge claws at the end broke through the surface.

"You gotta be kidding me! Not again!" I groaned.

"Quick! Climb into the tree before it sees us!" Luna commanded.

Instantly we dashed towards the tree then began scrambling up it. Even Kikan, with some help, managed to make it up to one of the lower branches. Seconds after we all were up the Booma broke all the way through. It got up and wandered around the room then spotted the place where the other Booma used to be.

"So Luna," I said. "Got anymore genius plans for this mess we're in?"

"As a matter of fact I do, and guess who gets to lure the Booma over here?" she said with a smirk.

I should've just kept my mouth shut.

Five minutes later I found myself slowly and silently climbing out of the tree. I dropped down, keeping my eyes on the Booma that was at the far side of the room digging up something. I slowly crawled toward it, making sure that I was staying downwind and completely out of sight. As I drew close it turned its back completely and I saw my chance. I got up and leaped at it, thrusting my dagger into its side, then turned and started sprinting back to the tree before it could even howl. Once I was at the base of the tree I turned around and saw that the Booma was lumbering towards me, unable to go on all fours due to the dagger sticking out of its side.

"Please please please don't miss Vivian," I silently pleaded to myself. Once the Booma was around fifteen feet away from the tree and me I heard Vivian call out, "ZONDE!"

Suddenly the sky flashed and a bolt of electricity came crackling down, slamming into the Booma. The Booma stood there, paralyzed, from the unexpected burst of electricity.

"NOW KIKAN!" I yelled.

Then from high in the tree a gunshot sounded and a bullet came screaming past me. It smashed right into the Booma's eye, which Luna had told him to shoot since the Booma's thick skull would've protected it from any other headshot.

The Booma died instantly without a chance to call for backup which we guessed was what the last one did before it died.

Luna jumped down out of the tree yelling,

"Quick! Wrap it up in this before it disintegrates! We gotta get this back to the lab!"

She threw one side of the tarp to me and we wrapped it up while Kikan and Vivian, who aren't as athletic as Luna and I, slowly climbed out of the tree.

Once they made it down Kikan came lumbering over, picked up the Booma and flung it over his shoulder. With that done we all sprinted back to the gate.


End file.
